Africa: Tembo: the exit is not an option for Supersport

Supersport United interim coach Keitano Tembo says withdrawing from the competition at this stage is certainly not an option for his team Supersport United, which was runner-up last season.

The club of the South African capital has had a depressing season for its high standards with the descent from the top looking in its face.

The successive sterile draws against Orlando Pirates and Cape Town in the national soccer Premier League will give the Zimbabwe-born coach a cause for concern as they welcome Kenya's Muhammad from Kenya on the return leg on Wednesday. The visitors have a unique goal advantage when entering the clash to be played at the Lucas Moripe stadium in Pretoria.

Speaking at the club's training session on Monday afternoon, Tembo, who replaced Stuart Baxter and Eric Tinkler, admits a task difficulty against the Kenyans, with the first appearance in the lucrative stage of the mini league.

Tembo rested some key players in the first leg at Machakos a fortnight ago, but adds that he would deploy his strongest squad to make sure they resisted a good chance to qualify for the group stage of the competition.

"When we played with them, we sent a relatively young team in. We gave him players like Luke Le Roux, Jamie Webber, Sipho Mbule and Thuso Phala in advance and I think we played well until they scored that late penalty. the past now because it's the nature of playing away, we have to keep going and focus completely on Wednesday's game, "said Tembo.

The Supersport mentor also highlighted the importance of using home games to take advantage of such competitions, saying that it would allow them to play their normal game with the support of supporters.

"Such tournaments require you to be clinical at home because it is difficult to get a score away. If you do not win your games at home, you can simply forget them because when you are away, you need to handle the game in some way and be more careful, which it does not allow you to play your normal game.

"They have the advantage at this moment and most likely they relax and want to catch us in the break. We have to try to break them and at the same time make sure that we do not give anything away, "concluded Tembo.

Matsantsansta has been one without a victory on the national front since a 4-2 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic last February. They defeated the Angolan team Petro de Luanda 2-1 in the aggregate in the previous round.